Winston-Salem Journal from Winston-Salem, North Carolina • 37

Winston Salem Journal Winston Salem Monday March 19 Page 37 actions Struggle for Control of NC Motor Speedway By Mike Mulhern Stall Reporter ATLANTA A power struggle for con trol of North Carolina Motor Speedway is now underway and the battle will likely spill over to include a fight for command of Atlanta International Raceway in the coming months A group of stockholders apparently led by Larry Hogan and his father a Raleigh banker last week tried to oust DeWitt from command of the Rockingham track But DeWitt refused to concede defeat by selling the group his NCMS stock as it proposed Instead DeWitt has moved to entrench his position by rounding up as much stock as possible This Atlanta track also under DeWitt's control was expected to be the target of a take over by the group if Rockingham maneuvers were successful However the current state of affairs at both tracks is unclear though DeWitt in sists he is still in control DeWitt declined to comment yesterday about the situation and Hogan was un available for comment In another similarly explosive drama Cale Yarborough has his lawyer seeking depositions from witnesses to his post Davtona 500 press conference Yar borough says he wants Sports Illustrated to issue a retraction to the claim (eb 26) that Yarborough said he deliberately the out of Donnie Allison on the track on the in famous last lap of that race And Yarborough said he is also highly concerned about a Newsweek article (March 19) that billed him as being "meaner than a junkyard cat" lawyer said he is con cerned both about potential libel in coverage of the nationally televised flap and about possible criminal charges that could theoretically be filed "I just want to get this thing settled" Yarborough said two stories con cern On the other side of the picture Bobby Allison was asked if he were planning any legal action himself answer Allison responded When questioned about concern over the alleged quote Allison said said it and I heard it with my own ears I guess I confirm this to you but if been listening you'd have heard it Meanwhile Junior Johnson says NASCAR took a lap away from his driver Yarborough during yesterday's Atlanta 500 And the Wilkes County car builder argued for several minutes with NASCAR president Bill rance Jr about the problem during the late stages of the rate At question was where on the track were Yarborough and Buddy Baker relatively when they took the caution flag for Claude Ballot crash on lap 179 Bobby Allison and Cale had got ten by Buddy when they got the caution Johnson claimed backed off in the first turn and Baker passed him un der the caution "But NASCAR says they didn't get the caution flag that lap that they got it the next lap no way one man can watch all the stuff that goes on in a race but we know where our car is when the caution flag drops NASCAR just took a lap away from Could Yarborough have beaten Baker if both had been in the same lap at the climax? Yarborough charged to rear bumper and hung there waiting in vain for a caution during the last 45 miles But Yarborough began slipping back with 10 laps to go "I have nothing on the Yarborough said wearily could run strong on the break (a restart) but he run that well after 20 laps it was a heckuva race and the fans are sure getting their worth this year" Yarborough added we've just got to get our act "We sure did have a handling problem in this Richard Petty said after his very disappointing Uth place finish six miles behind the winner had the wrong springs in the car I bet that thing has two foot of wedge in it now We 1 have made those changes Satur day" David Pearson was highly irritated with his blown engine one in a string over the past several months just came loose inside ttie crew chief Leonard Wood said dejectedly not because of 1 running high RPMs or anything because 1 we're not turning any more than Bobby Al lison The wrist pins have been breaking (snapping otf the piston heads) for some reason still building engines i the way we have been all along The problem is certainly not in anything the engine man is doing wrong" Baker Breaks Losing Streak Continued rom Page 33 Pearson and Bobby Allison with 75 miles to go the race by then having boiled down to those three Suddenly on a restart on lap 282 (of 328) Al lison's engine went sour And on lap 300 engine erupted leaving Baker to cruise home easily 18 seconds 'ahead of the ailing Allison know how Bobby felt and David because I've been there before" Baker said I never feel sorry for another driver 1 do have mixed emo tions about the win David blew my crew told me I had it made But usually the point where you make your mistakes "Youknow it's been a long time since I've run 500 miles (last Talladega 500 to be precise when he finished second to Yarborough) But a 500 mile race is won in the pits and Herb Nab is one of the main reasons we won the race him and Waddell Wilson They're my good luck "It seemed the car was Stultz Camaro Hot in Qualifying ARMINGTON Steve Stultz came within one thousandth of a second of tying the national superstock drag record Saturday when he took ids Camaro down armington Dragway's mile 'strip in 7201 seconds to lead all qualifiers loose then push then be loose It had to be one of the quickest cars ever driven but it had a few characteristics we didn't like I woke up at 3:30 this morning with some ideas about the problems and I was going to call Herb But our speed down the straights boy that made up for the bad characteristics "That 13th career victory (the 1976 Winston 500) hung me for two years like 28000 pounds around my head And told everybody if I couldn't win with this team I might as well get out of racing Now we've gotten out of the barrel" I Buddy Baker 328 laps 135136 mph 2 Bobby Allison Thunderbird 328 3 Darrell Wallrip Chevrolet 328 4 Cale Yarborough Oldsmobile 327 5 Benny Parsons Chevrolet 327 6 Dave Marcis Chevrolet 327 7 Donnie Allison Chevrolet 326 8 Joe Millikan Oldsmoblie 326 9 Ricky Rudd Mercury 325 10 Dick Brooks Oldsmobile 325 11 Richard Petty Oldsmobile 324 12 Dale Earnhardt Buick 321 13 James Hylton Chevrolet 321 14 DK Ulrich Buick 321 15 Bruce Hill Oldsmobile 321 16 Chuck Bown Buick 315 17 McDuffie Oldsmobile 314 18 David Pearson Mercury 299 19 Richard Childress Oldsmobile 296 20 Baxter Price Chevrolet 295 21 Tom Gale ord 282 22 ranK Warren Dodge 273 23 Cecil Grodon Oldsmobile 249 24 Dick May Chevrolet 221 25 Terry Labonte Chevrolet 211 26 Roger Hamby Oldsmobile 172 27 Claude Ballot Lena Oldsmobile 168 28 Grant Adcox Chevrolet 133 29 Buddy Arrington Dodge 129 30 Blackie Wangerln Mercury 126 31 Ralph Jones ord 125 32 Dave Watson Chevrolet 123 33 Jimmy Means Chevrolet 82 34 Ronnie Thomas Chevrolet 71 35 Jeoff Bodine Oldsmooile 66 36 Bill Elliott Mercury 61 37 Tighe Scott Buick $4 38 Coo Coo Marlin Chevrolet 53 39 John Kennedy Chevrolet 50 40 Keith Davis Chevrolet 15 UPl Telephoto With a I I mi'i i in ikL ateMk MW Jri Driver Dave Watson unbuckles his harness after hitting Dennis Wade (foreground) in the pit area Kent Squeaks ictory MARTINSVILLE Va (AP) Pole winner George Kent Jr edged Merv Treichler in the Modified Yace and Butch Lmdlev of Greenville won by 78 seconds overSonny Hutchins in the Late Model Sportsman event Sunday in the $105000 Dogwood 5u0 Classic doubleheader Kent a Pinto driver from Horseheads took the lead for good on the 161st lap for his victory over Treichler a Chevette driver from San born in the Modified race the second of the two 250 lap National Championship races at Martinsville Speed way In the Late Model Sportsman event the Pontiac driving Lindley from Greenville averaged 62 mph for the 525 mile track in beating Hutchins a Chevrolet driver from Rich mond Va Kent who had set a speedway qualifying mark of 93760 mph in winning the pole riday averaged 65458 mph Sunday as the caution flag was out 11 times for 61 laps In the final lap with Kent and Treichler at the finish were Ken Bouchard of itchburg Mass Richie Evans of Rome Bob Dragon of Milton Vt and Paul Radford of er rum Va There were eight lead changes among eight drivers with Evans picking up the $10 00 bonus for leading the most laps 102 first Martin sville victory earned him $8750 There were nine caution flags for 64 laps most caused by spin outs with no serious in juries during the Late Model Sportsman race as Lindley the National Association lor Stock Car Auto Racing national champion won for the first time at Martinsville The victory was worth $9050 for Lindley who went ahead by taking the lead from Morgan Shepherd of Eden Shepherd was third and Bob Pressley of Asheville was fourth Both were in the 250th lap when the race ended Pole winner Jody Ridley of Chatsworth Ga picked up the $1000 bonus for leading the most laps but dropped out after the 181st lap because of engine failure There were nine lead changes among five drivers Late Model Sportsman I Butch Lrndley Pontiac 250 62 000 mph 2 Sonny Hutchins Chevrolet 250 3 Morgan Shepherd Pontiac 250 4 Bob Pressley Pontiac 250 5 Donald Worley Pontiac 249 6 Donnie Bishop Chevrolet 249 7 Dick McCabe Chevrolet 246 8 Brad Teague Chevrolet 245 9 Bobby leming Pontiac 245 10 Bill Mace Chevrolet 243 Modified 1 George Kent Jr Pinlo 250 65 458 mph 2 Merv Treichler Chevette 250 3 Ken Bouchard Ptnto 250 4 Rtchie Evans Pinto 250 5 Bob Dragon Pinto 250 6 Paul Radford Pinto 250 7 Allen Whipple Vega 249 8 Billy Hensley Arrow 249 9 Brett Bodine Vega 245 10 Mark Malcuit Pinto 244 40000 will extend thru Saturday March 31 Due to the tremendous response the sale 'll! 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